Topics in the News: Common Core Learning Standards

It’s heartening that teachers are part of the state’s process of writing the new Empire State Learning Standards to better reflect the knowledge and skills that children should be able to demonstrate at each grade. But so far, we know one thing for sure: There’s still work to do.

An analysis of state test data by the Hechinger Report and the Courier-Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, showed that the achievement gap between white and black children in reading and math has widened since Kentucky adopted the Common Core Learning Standards in 2010.

Nearly 5,000 teachers responded to the State Education Department’s invitation this past fall to weigh in on the Common Core Learning Standards. The standards, first rolled out in 2012, have provoked fierce controversy and the governor’s Common Core Task Force has now called for a thorough rewrite.

The UFT on Jan. 15 launched a new TV ad urging New Yorkers to support revisions to the state’s learning standards proposed by Governor Cuomo’s Common Core task force, which also set in motion a four-year ban on the use of state growth scores to evaluate teachers.

The UFT launched a television ad campaign on Jan. 15 to urge New Yorkers to support the recommendations of Governor Cuomo’s Common Core Task Force, which was charged with reforming the current Common Core system.

In a move that few would have predicted a year ago, the State Board of Regents on Dec. 14 voted nearly unanimously to eliminate state-provided growth scores based on state standardized test scores from teacher evaluations for four years.

The results of a State Education Department survey that invited educators and parents to weigh in on the Common Core Learning Standards indicate that the standards for the early grades are in need of the greatest revision.

Kishayna Hazlewood, a 3rd-grade teacher at PS 156 in Brownsville, said she "was able to bring the story of the child into the conversation" in her work on the Common Core task force convened by Governor Cuomo.

The days of test and punish are over. After a disastrous experiment with the Common Core standards — implemented without proper curriculum or teacher training — New York now has a chance to get things right.

The Common Core task force was created by Governor Cuomo to review the Common Core standards and their implementation in New York State. It included representatives from a variety of stakeholder groups. On Dec. 10, 2015, the task force issued a report.

The days of test and punish are over. After a disastrous experiment with the Common Core standards — implemented without proper curriculum or teacher training — New York now has a chance to get things right.

Following President Obama's signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act and the release of Governor Cuomo's Common Core task force findings on Dec. 10, UFT President Michael Mulgrew sent an email to all DOE-employed members.

A nationwide drop in math performance this year on the National Assessment of Educational Progress exams spurred questions about whether the Common Core standards were to blame. A new study shows that the questions on the NAEP test actually aligned quite closely with new standards.

The historic refusal by one in five New York State students to take state tests tied to the Common Core Learning Standards this spring has prompted elected leaders and state education officials to once again review the standards.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew issued a statement concerning the governor's Common Core task force. "We appreciate that the Governor has put together a task force to deal with the debacle that was the rollout of the Common Core standards," Mulgrew said.

Saying that “the current Common Core program in New York is not working,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sept. 3 convened a “representative group” from a pre-existing education commission to conduct a “comprehensive review of the implementation of the Common Core Learning standards. UFT President Michael Mugrew said the union will be happy to work with the new group to help fix the problems.

The scores of New York City students increased modestly in both math and English language arts on the latest state tests, released on Aug. 14, as the students became more familiar with the Common Core Learning Standards and their teachers worked hard with what materials and training they eventually got.